A plug for aeration: Four reasons to get started now

With the warm season just beginning, many people are looking for ways to lay the groundwork for a great looking summer lawn. We talked about the benefits of aeration in an earlier piece, but now it’s time to go deeper and dig into the benefits of core aeration to your lawn.

What it is

Core aeration is the removal of quarter-sized plugs of soil about 2 to 3 inches deep and about 4 inches apart throughout the lawn. These plugs are deposited on the surface and will normally break down back into the lawn in about a week. And once those plugs are free from your spring lawn, you’ll find several benefits.

1. Stronger root systems

A great house is built on a great foundation. A great lawn is built on a great root system. By loosening soils and allowing better access to water and fertilizer, aeration helps strengthen the root system of a lawn, encouraging the roots to grow deeper, take in more nutrients and improve the overall health and look of the grass. If you keep the root system healthy, the lawn will flourish.

2. Improved water intake

Using water efficiently is a major issue in East Idaho. Our natural desert climate means that pretty much all ornamental plants require irrigation. Opening up the root system allows it to access more water. Aeration, combined with proper watering strategies, can allow those deeper-growing roots to use water that is deeper in the soil, requiring less overall watering of your lawn. Using water efficiently is important so that all water users have enough, even during drought seasons. And where water is metered this can also greatly improve your water bill.

3. Reduced water runoff

When you do water your lawn, it can only use as much water as can be absorbed into the soil. If you have clay soils or compacted soils, much of the water will pool and run off into gutters and streets. When aeration opens up the root system access to more water, it also opens up the soil and can absorb and retain more of the water, making it usable for the lawn and reducing waste.

4. Enhanced thatch breakdown

The types of turf grass that grow in East Idaho are not varieties that normally build up large amounts of thatch. But if thatch is there, aeration can aid in its breakdown by breaking it up and allowing its incorporation into the soil and allowing water and fertilizer through the thatch layer more efficiently.

How often should I aerate?

This depends a lot on your location, how you use your lawn and the type of soil you have. If you have a clay or loamy soil then aeration should probably be done annually. The same is true if you have a high traffic lawn where there is regular foot or vehicle traffic that can compact the soil during the year. If you have a more sandy soil, then aeration twice in a year every other year is probably sufficient.

You can aerate any time during the season, but it is usually done in the spring or fall since the soil is more likely to be better hydrated than in the heat of the summer. To get the job done and to get that lush lawn, you can rent an aerator yourself or hire a landscaping company to do it for you.